Old school

[+Titus1919]

So haw many people use older gps's with no map overlay??

I am new to geocaching but not gps navigation( or old school maps/charts)

I use a garmin E-trex and a compass. I have had little problems as of yet.

IMHO this is more true to the sport.

(just a friendly topic to start a discussion. Not intended to belittle or put anyone down.)

[+WRASTRO]

What's a map overlay? I use a Garmin GPS MAP 76cs and I follow the little arrow. I have never seen a need to pay $100 for maps. I did find some free maps online for roads a few years ago. Those do help from time to time.

[+Fiver1]

Not sure what you mean by "old school" either but I still use the very first gps'r I bought 8 years ago - a Garmin GPS-V. It is loaded with maps several years old, but it makes no difference when caching.

[GOF and Bacall]

I hope you don't mind my saying it but I got a chuckle out of this topic. A "tadpole" starting a thread titled "old school".

 

Even with my 60Cx and maps loaded for driving I still just follow the arrow once I start walking.

[+BlueDeuce]

Mapping gps to get me down the road. Arrow pointy gps to get me down the trail. I live in Iowa so topos aren't really that helpful.

[+WRASTRO]

Mapping gps to get me down the road. Arrow pointy gps to get me down the trail. I live in Iowa so topos aren't really that helpful.

Iowa topo line ____________________________________

[+Titus1919]

I hope you don't mind my saying it but I got a chuckle out of this topic. A "tadpole" starting a thread titled "old school"

 

I take no offence. I want to get a feel of why people use what they use. Personaly if you use a $1100 new top of the line gps that can flush toilets and wipe your butt or if you use a sextant and a chart it dosn't realy matter. It is what you get out of the game.

[+narcissa]

I did my first 300 caches with an eXplorist 100. No maps, no cable to connect to the computer. It worked well enough for me to get into the game.

[+BlueDeuce]

Mapping gps to get me down the road. Arrow pointy gps to get me down the trail. I live in Iowa so topos aren't really that helpful.

Iowa topo line ____________________________________

 

Not quite. Something that out of state RAGBRAI participants soon realize.

Edited February 13, 2010 by BlueDeuce

[+WRASTRO]

Mapping gps to get me down the road. Arrow pointy gps to get me down the trail. I live in Iowa so topos aren't really that helpful.

Iowa topo line ____________________________________

 

Not quite. Something that out of state RAGBRAI participants soon realize.

Spoilsport.../\__/\__/\__ better?

[+BlueDeuce]

Mapping gps to get me down the road. Arrow pointy gps to get me down the trail. I live in Iowa so topos aren't really that helpful.

Iowa topo line ____________________________________

 

Not quite. Something that out of state RAGBRAI participants soon realize.

Spoilsport.../\__/\__/\__ better?

 

Much. Now if you will excuse me, I have to go plant some potatoes.

[+TheAlabamaRambler]

I found my first 500+ with the basic $25 Garmin eTrex Yellow. I found the next couple thousand with a series of six ever more feature-rich GPS, my favorite being a Garmin GPSMap60CSx, a wonderful device. I'm now using a Blackberry Curve 8310 Smartphone... it's OK, accurate but slow to respond.

 

Someone recently gave me their old eTrex Yellow. It took me maybe two minutes to remember the simple menu system, and five to realize that I have no desire whatsoever to go back to such limited primitive technology. I pulled the batteries and tossed it in a drawer. I guess I'm not an old-school kind of guy.

 

I suppose I could sell my air-conditioned house and move to a lean-to in the woods, trade my 4wd Durango for a 4-legged mule, but hey, there's a reason folks embrace progress... because the old ways sucked!

[+Chrysalides]

Perhaps the OP should check with this user

 

I tend not to react well to phrases like "more true to the sport" so I'll limit myself to this statement.

 

I use what I use because it makes it more convenient to geocache.

[7rxc]

So haw many people use older gps's with no map overlay??

I am new to geocaching but not gps navigation( or old school maps/charts)

I use a garmin E-trex and a compass. I have had little problems as of yet.

IMHO this is more true to the sport.

(just a friendly topic to start a discussion. Not intended to belittle or put anyone down.)

 

I certainly do... got my Garmin 45xl about 96 or 97 for what could buy a top line paperless today..

I don't have a thing against the newer ones themselves, but so far haven't seen a lot of real difference in the results... Useability and functionality sure. I can load unload simple coordinates, but try to find the right software... I have the cable... serial ports are getting rare.

 

I have access to a newer unit, but it is a eTrex Legend (blue) it's faster to lock and has a few more channels to receive and WAAS enabled... Today I went hunting as usual... finally got wind of a new cache in the area. Got there first using the 45... no real problem. Did it a second time with the Legend, same results.

.. but it did regain lock faster due to the different processing and accuracy. Neither has high sensitivity receiver.

 

The 45 has much higher EPEs than the legend in general... note the pic. We are in valleys and mountains with lots of trees.

 

 

Seldom have very many satellites over head... they hide below the mountain tops... Still find caches... old school by neccessity.

 

Doug

Edited February 13, 2010 by 7rxc

[+Isonzo Karst]

It's a "high tech" game....the higher the tech, the better.

 

I cached a while before buying road maps for my Merigold. Once I had them, it occurred to me that I had been a Complete Idiot not to get them sooner.

 

By the way . _________________________________ that's FLORIDA's topo line, not Iowa. Dang.

[+briansnat]

I have mostly mapping GPS units, but I pretty much stick to the compass navigation screen when geocaching.

 

The only times I look at the map screen are when I get out of my car to see what kind of terrain is ahead and if the cache involves extensive bushwacking, I will look at the map to find the best route. Blindly following the arrow off trail in this area can get you in a mess of trouble.

 

I don't think using a non mapping unit makes you old school and more true to the sport. Mapping units were available in 2000. By the time I started in 2001 most geocachers I met had mapping units.

 

If you really want to be "old school" just use the coordinates and forget about bringing the cache page and hints along. That's how the first few geocachers did it.

Edited February 13, 2010 by briansnat

[+jbtech]

I will look at the map to find the best route. Blindly following the arrow off trail in this area can get you in a mess of trouble.

 

I totally agree! You don't need a map to find the cache, but it can help you get there and back easily and safely.

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

Basic is what one needs. Bells & whistles are icing on the cake, but they do not get you to the cache. It's the basic that gets you there!

 

You really don't even need the arrow, as long as you know where N (or S, E or W is) just ambulate to the coords for the cache.

[+KeeperOfTheMist]

no maps or arrows is how i started. just a written set of coord, an iDEN phone, and a free tracking program that updated my coords faster then the built in access to the 3 channel GPS chip. found about 5 caches like that then got a Nuvi 205 cause it was cheap and had 12 channels, cant beat that compared to the iDEN i776 and the numbers only approch.

[+ChileHead]

Not quite. Something that out of state RAGBRAI participants soon realize.

 

My father did RAGBRAI for many years, and he learned that as well!

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

Just you wait. There will be a time when our current technology will be "old school"!

[+kunarion]

a $1100 new top of the line gps that can flush toilets and wipe your butt

That's the one I have, the Garmin Flush. And street maps for routing, in case I'm in a vehicle without car GPS. Trail maps would be a godsend if they were available, but there's no trail map for over 99.99% of the places I go. Occasionally, a printout of the satellite map view is handy.

 

So I follow a trail, while watching the pointer and distance. If I encounter, say, a raging river, it's time to backtrack and try another route. Kickin' it old school.

[+geodarts]

Just you wait. There will be a time when our current technology will be "old school"!

 

Since I like the location rather than the hide and sometimes have my noncaching family with limited patience, the GDR (geosensing detecting radar) features can make a lot of difference, as well as the TWM (time warp management) that can make an hour long search seem like just seconds to everyone else, rather than the other way around using old school techniques. Sometimes the TAI (thermal abormality imaging) functions can find out of place objects as well. That works particularly well with the gps implants that form direct links with the human brain eliminating the need for handheld units that they had to use in the old days..

 

But when I want to do it old school I just set up the pointer and distance on the map page and hope for the best.

[Debord]

I just use an etrex and GO TO. overlays can be useful but the best looking overlay is as simple as trees and rocks and sky

 

Just you wait. There will be a time when our current technology will be "old school"!

 

Very true. But there is nothing like finding your own way through the woods. I would agree with briansnat and kunarion on this one.

 

 

So I follow a trail, while watching the pointer and distance. If I encounter, say, a raging river, it's time to backtrack and try another route. Kickin' it old school.

Wandering around in the woods with a general direction in mind brings a much greater sense of adventure. For me anyways

 

I just asked a similar question over at a new thread What does everyone think?

Edited February 14, 2010 by Debord